Lessons Learned From the Blog at the 2 Year Anniversary

Amazingly what started as a lark 2 years ago has grown to the point where there have been close to 200,000 page views averaging about 250 per day and nearly 600 comments from so many wonderful readers of the blog. The numbers do not tell much but there are deeper lessons:

1. People need, crave and love humor; an especial thanks in this department goes out to my wife, Lori Miller Fox, who is far and away funnier than I can ever hope to be. Laughter is the balm for the profound pain that so many of us experience each day;
2. Too many school people (by no means all) can not laugh at themselves and are incredibly sensitive to rebuke even if expressly not directed at them. The amount of hrrmphing over the years has been remarkable.
3.  Parents need and have a right to plain spoken guidance and in many cases will use that information to pierce the veil of misinformation and get a FAPE for their child;
4. There is an ongoing need to uncover the persistant myths of special education: cases are brought to due process at the hands of money hungry unscrupulous attorneys; special education is draining the education system; school people are above reproach and never hit, lie, cheat, perjure or steal; to provide a FAPE would bankrupt the system (when so often there are cheap readily available answers and remedies which only require an attitude  adjustment;
5. The golden rules (among others) have been and remain: be creative, stay focused, look for the win-win answer at all costs, and document crucial facts

So what is the focus in the future:

• Bring out issues essential to the community of students with special needs in the upcoming elections;
• Fight for legislation to overturn unfortunate rulings in Arlington Central and Shaffer;
• Advocate for more job training, transition programming and constructive alternatives to break the cycle of special education class leading to drop out or convict status;
• Resist all efforts to carve out exemptions to NCLB which will insure our children are left behind;
• My personal dream-to organize a million wheelchair march/roll on the mall in Washington D.C. to demand our rights as citizens and human beings without any resort to cliches or demoralizing pity.

Keep reading; I will keep writing; keep the faith that effective advocacy is the only path to a meaningful future for so many wonderful students/loved ones; the only zero tolerance is for hateful narrow-minded bigoted people wherever they may be.

Comments

[Sandy Alperstein]

Thank you for your profound, deeply moving thoughts, and for all the hard work and effort that goes into this blog! Happy Anniversary!!

Sandy

[catherine]

Count me in, esp. on the march!

And Lori is seriously the funniest blogger ever.

Missed you in BR (BB was having serious GI/stomach issues/scary . . .).

[Daunna Minnich]

This blog has been a great family enterprise — what a team!   I'm sure it's very satisfying (if not therapeutic) for both of you, and it is certainly a great service to readers to have a place to learn and laugh. Your lark has had powerful wings.  A big thank-you!

[Matthew J. Stowe]

Congrats on two years. Your blog is truly remarkable and an incredible resource for individuals with disabilities and their families. I have only been aware of it for about 9 months and haven't posted before--but I promise not to be such a freeloader in the future. :)

In honor of your 2 year anniversary, I will also make a concerted effort to help you get the word out about your blog, and see if I can't get a few additional endorsements/testimonials for your site.

If there is anything else I can do to help support the site, let me know.

Matt

[Jennifer]

congrats on 2 years, keep it up!

[Cyn]

Charlie and Lori,

I am truly grateful for all your efforts, humor, and dedication to this blog.

You may absolutely count on me to stand beside you in D.C. (along with my son).

Congrats!

[kathryn]

Congratulations on your two year anniversary! Two years of amazing, thoughtful, well informed, and yes - very funny posts. The two of you totally rock in my book! Thank you for all the wonderful information and leading the fight in what can sometimes be an uphill battle. If you really do want to ever organize that march on the mall,count me in to not only march but help you organize. The older Ellie gets the more of these myths - that you have very adroitly outlined do I see. And I am appalled. Thanks so much Charles and Lori!

[kintropy]

Thanks for this amazing resource (and congrats on your two years). We are just starting the education years with both our kids, and I'm sure we'll check back in often.

[Nicole]

Looking for information and found it at this great site…

[Sue Keller]

This is such a great blog. God bless you for putting so much time and effort into it. Congratulations on your anniversary. May you have many, many more!

RE the march on Washington. There's no time like the present, well, maybe not today when the temp. is freezing. But how about this spring before Washington becomes Hades' waiting room with high temps and equally high humidity?

And please invite my son, who has a disability, although he doesn't use a wheelchair. And my son's friends who have diverse disabilities, yet don't use wheelchairs. That's the thing about people with disabilities - it's not a monolithic community, so let's not exclude anyone. We get enough exclusion, don't we?